


don't know but you know when you get there

by Hexx



Series: this love language is music [1]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Birdwatching, F/M, Group Assignments, Jyn is Frustrated, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Underage Drinking, Warehouse Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 21:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14757035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hexx/pseuds/Hexx
Summary: Cassian Andor bird watches. And Jyn Erso Cassian Andor watches.akaLate starter college freshman Jyn Erso has a hardcore crush on the Sophomore who sits next to her in class and she really hates that.





	don't know but you know when you get there

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the song Tightrope by LP, which is a song I strongly associate with Jyn and Cassian in a softer, kinder world. Where the path is still rough but the endings are a little happier.

“Cassian Andor has the single worst case of RBF I have ever seen in my entire life.” Jyn said into the couch cushion, the whole front of her body stretched out obnoxiously to keep Bodhi from having anywhere to sit down. He chose to overlook her attempt by sitting gingerly on the back of her knees, mostly stretched out as well to distribute his body weight.  He sipped from the steaming mug in his hand that he held carefully to keep from dripping and scalding his foster sister while he scrolled through his phone. After a few moments of silence, Jyn let out a frustrated noise that Bodhi took pity on.

“I don’t know what that means.” He said conversationally, still scrolling through his backlog of spam emails hunting for one from his lab partner that Luke swears he sent but Bodhi certainly hadn’t received. Jyn sounded immensely satisfied when she spoke again, because as much as she loved to bitch, she would never out right complain without a verbal go-ahead. It was a side effect of being super repressed and afraid to express her emotions. At least that’s what she told him when she had bitched about her therapy sessions with the college psychiatrist, Mon Mothma.

“RBF. Resting Bitch Face. You know, when a person is just standing there thinking and people assume they’re mad just  cause their resting face is a scowl and not a smile. Typically associated with women because it’s fine for a man to be surly but if a woman isn’t the picture of charm and grace at all time she is…well as the name implies, a bitch.” Jyn said somewhat bitterly, still speaking into the couch cushion. She hadn’t moved since she’d gotten there nearly a half hour ago, and Bodhi had already placed her tea mug in the microwave when he noticed it had stopped steaming.

“I’m familiar with the concept.” Bodhi said, finally finding Luke’s email and realizing the reason it went to the junk folder was because the farm hippy hadn’t used his campus email to send it in the first place. Bodhi mused fondly over the private handle before he slid his eyes to Jyn. “I just don’t know who Cassian Andor is.”

“Oh.” Jyn said softly, the back of her neck flushing a light pink. “Oh, it’s Seat G in Philosophy.” She turned her face to look at him with one eye over her shoulder. “That’s his name.”

“So he has one now.” Bodhi asked neutrally, though he couldn’t keep the shit eating grin off his face. Jyn rolled her eyes so violently that it moved her whole body. Bodhi dug his shoulders into the back of the couch to lift off of her legs as she disentangled, crawling on her stomach to flop onto her back on the floor. She had gone on and on with varying degrees of hostility and admiration for the man who sat in Seat G, a few scant inches away from her assigned lecture spot of Seat H. Typically lecture seating was a free for all, but since Professor Imwe was blind it was necessary to keep people in the same place so he could get to know them somewhat better.  “I mean I assumed he had one, given that people just don’t appear as fully grown adults in college lecture halls. But after three months I was starting to wonder-“

“Alright, alright, shut up.” Jyn grumbled, flinging her arm over her face in a lazy attempt to defend herself from his teasing. “I had to learn it because we are assigned to lead a group debate for our midterm grade.”

“Oh you _had_ to then, I see.” Bodhi said, relishing the way Jyn frowned at his sarcasm. “It has nothing to do with the fact that you like him. Alright. So what, you had to ask for his number?” Bodhi teased, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees. He took a loud sip from his tea mug and watched the way Jyn squirmed. She had just gotten back from her morning run, which meant she had probably seen Andor out and about somewhere. Which was usually all it took to get Jyn going about the guy, criticizing and analyzing and waxing poetical. “How did that go?”

“I didn’t have to ask.” She said primly, finally sitting up off the floor. She hugged her legs to her chest and squinted up at him. “Professor Imwe announced the assignment and the pairs and he just turned to me, handed me a notecard with his number and email on it and then left. Not a fucking word, not a ‘when should we meet up’, not so much as a ‘how the fuck do you do’. Just pushed it across the table and left.”

“Romantic.” Bodhi said, enjoying the way Jyn’s skin lit up like a Christmas display, blushing red from her hairline down to her neck.

“Shut up.” She whined, burying her face in her hands. “I get this shit from Leia, I don’t need it from you too.” Jyn was silent for a few more minutes and then said, “He is just so frustrating. Like…how can someone who says so little to me be so distracting.”

“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘hot’, and or ‘attractive’.” Bodhi supplied, grinning over his drink. “Depending on what sort of mood you’re in.”

“I’m going to kill you.” Jyn said with no malice whatsoever as she got up to retrieve her now ice cold tea.

“So when does he come over so I can meet him?” Bodhi asked, following her into the kitchen. She was pushing the buttons on the microwave with more force then necessary and refusing to look at him. “To work on the assignment, of course.” He said as innocently as possible, leaning against the doorframe.  

“We’re working at his place tomorrow morning.” She said, still not looking at her brother while she savagely ripped a banana free from the bunch that was sitting on the counter. “Han is apparently throwing some sort of warehouse party with Lando Saturday night and Leia wants to go with me. So we’re getting the work in early.”  
  
Taking pity on her, Bodhi went with the subject change. “A party? Am I invited?”

Jyn’s smile was small but warm as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. Bodhi saw the mischievous sparkle there before it was too late. “Well, I’m Leia’s plus one so I don’t know if I can get you in. But I’m sure Luke would take you if you asked.”

Bodhi choked lightly on his tea, having to set his mug down on the counter to cough the liquid that had slid down the wrong pipe back up. Jyn was torn between reaching for him to help and laughing hysterically.  He waved her off, taking a deep breath to speak “Wow, I didn’t know we were playing dirty. Okay.” He shot her a look as he retrieved his cup and she grinned with false innocence over her reheated tea as she took a sip.

“Come on, he’s your lab partner. I’m sure it would be easy enough to ask him if he’s heard anything about a party Saturday.” Jyn said, pulling a chunk of banana off and popping it into her mouth.

“And what if he hasn’t?” Bodhi asked, trying not to sound as anxious as he suddenly felt. He was trying to get better at social interactions, he really was. For Jyn and Galen’s sake as well as his own. But it was still unexpectedly hard sometimes. Jyn noticed right away his demeanor shift and she softened her gaze.

“Of course he’s heard. He lives with Leia after all…and he’s Han’s best friend. You know he’ll invite you. And if he doesn’t then it’s fine. I’ll just bully Han into letting you in.” Bodhi snorted at Jyn’s remarks, nodding slowly. He exhaled through his nose and tried to regain his previous calm, thinking of Luke’s private email address sitting in his inbox and how nice parties were for remembering that they were young. Plus it wasn’t like he and Luke weren’t friends or anything. They were just as close as Leia and Jyn, if not closer.

Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa were probably the only people Bodhi knew who had a more complex family structure then he and Jyn did. The pair was committed to living together and making up for all the sibling bonding they were denied as children do to the whole ‘birth-parents-dying –the-same-day-we-were-born-and-being-separated-at -birth’ travesty.  Luke had managed to be raised by their biological father’s step brother and wife on a charming dairy farm in Wisconsin, while Leia had somehow ended up in the arms of their biological mother’s coworker at the UN, living the life of a diplomat’s daughter. Nobody was really sure how they managed to find one another, or how Han Solo was even involved, but the story culminated in the pair entering Yavin University together and refusing to let one another go. Luke had tried to explain it all to Bodhi the first time they had met up at the Rook/Erso apartment for lab work when the farm boy had noticed the childhood photos taped to the fridge because Jyn refused to purchase magnets like a normal human being. But it had been a lot to follow.

The foster siblings finished their morning tea in silence, both of them musing on their own activities for the rest of the day. Finally Bodhi looked at his watch and got up from his spot against the door to get ready for class. “Alright, I’ve got to get moving before my 9 o’clock lecture, and I might be home late tonight because there is an emergency aviation club budget meeting tonight.”

“Okay.” Jyn said, hopping down from the counter where she had perched herself at some point and passing him to go to her room to change. Bodhi stooped down a bit to let her give him a drive by kiss on the cheek as she went.

* * *

 

How Han Solo and Cassian Andor became roommates was beyond every other living person on the Yavin University campus. How they had managed to not kill one another in their cramped double their freshman year was anyone’s guess, but the fact that they now shared an off campus apartment and still managed to somehow despise each other was one of the many unsolved mysteries of their universe. Everyone knew Cassian’s best friend Kay lived alone and refused to take a roommate so that explained why Cassian was there. Why Han wasn’t living with Luke or Lando or even Chewie for fucks sake nobody was sure.  For some reason, despite their snappish insults to one another across the quad and their tense stand offs in the halls, they went home every night to apartment M12 entirely unsupervised and let each other live.

Han was loud and wild and obnoxious at the worst of times, awkward and overbearing with worry and affection at the best. His confidence was abrasive if you didn’t know him, and his work ethic was questionable. If he spent even a fraction of the effort he put in to campus shenanigans into his work, he would probably have a permanent spot on the Dean’s list. Jyn liked him, despite spending little time with him outside of the occasional run in’s at the Organa/Skywalker apartment. In contrast, Cassian was quiet and studious and serious about everything. It wasn’t that he was mean or anything, in fact he was extremely polite. But he just constantly seemed so indifferent about everything going on around him. He could be insanely defensive and uptight and literal and as far as Jyn could figure if he had a sense of humor he kept it entirely to himself, only taking it out for an hour of sunlight on Sundays when he sat by the duck pond near where Jyn did her morning jogs. It had taken everything in her to not bring up Seat G in conversations with Han over the last few months when they had happened to hang out, because she knew without a doubt there was no way Han would be able to keep his mouth shut about ‘some girl I know was talking about you’ if it meant he got to antagonize his roommate.

Jyn would be lying if she said she wasn’t excited about getting to see what they were like when together in the privacy of their home. And while Jyn was an expert liar, she was trying not to do that anymore. Lies felt like something best left to the days she and Bodhi had spent dodging child services and traveling the country one foster family at a time. Lies didn’t feel like they had a place anymore in her adult life.  But she knew better than to advertise her excitement about getting to see how the two actually lived together. Or even just getting to see Cassian outside of class at all.

So she took a deep breath, did her best to look indifferent, and knocked on the door.

It opened to reveal a shirtless Han, toothbrush hanging out of his mouth and a cup of orange juice in his free hand. Jyn recoiled in horror at the idea that he was really going to drink _that_ after doing _that_ , but he just handed her the glass and left her standing in the hall with the door wide open. She edged into the living room, that was only separated from the kitchen by an island and saw Han spit into the sink. It wasn’t as clean or as bright as her and Bodhi’s place, but it wasn’t the disaster zone she had been imagining. The furniture was mismatched and used, but not garish and falling apart. There were posters on the walls that had been hung straight rather than slapped on any which way. And surprisingly enough there was a handful of house plants actually thriving on the window sills.

“He’s out on the balcony fucking bird watching.” Han said, dragging a shirt off the back of the couch and pulling it over his head while he motored about. “Help yourself to the fridge but be warned that nasty IPA shit is his and it’s foul.”

“It’s eleven am.” Jyn said dully, surprised at herself for the conservative notion of not drinking so early in the day.

“It’s also Saturday.” Han replied, his smile all teeth and infectious. He nodded at the glass of juice in her hand as he slipped around her to fish some keys out of a stolen dining hall bowl sitting by the door. “That’s for him, remind him he is supposed to also eat at some point would you?” And with that he was gone. He hadn’t even asked why she was there.

Awkwardly, Jyn took in the rest of the apartment as she made her way towards the pair of sliding glass doors that were mostly obscured by heavy black out curtains. It was cozy, she had to admit. And smelled earthy which was surprising because on any given day Han smelled like someone had upended an entire can of AXE on him. But then again, Cassian had always smelled more like linin and rain in class. Jyn had to stop to take another deep breath, praying that the blush she felt creep across the back of her neck would be gone by the time she actually saw him.

He was indeed bird watching when Jyn finally pushed the door open and stepped out onto the small balcony. The tree on the side of the building was overgrown and hanging over the railing to one side, ivy climbing the brick on the other end. Two mismatched plastic chairs sat on the concrete slab and the table that Jyn set the cup down on was an old folding TV dinner tray. Cassian pulled back slightly from the binoculars in his hand when she appeared, but had gone back to staring through them without a hello.

If Jyn wasn’t so busy staring at him, she might have said something biting about being ignored. He was barefoot, wearing gray sweat pants and a black tank top and his arms were something else. Toned in ways that she hadn’t suspected under all his jackets. He still had bed head and it made him look younger for once, and around his neck Jyn was surprised to see a pair of dog tags. She knew he was older, had started college later than usual and should be a senior rather than a sophomore by age. But Jyn had never put any thought into why that was.

Just as she was starting to feel awkward, he silently passed her the binoculars and pointed off in the distance towards a tree near the parking lot. Jyn turned to look, thankful that she didn’t jump when he reached up to take her elbow and adjust her stance, breaking out into a grin when she saw the owl tucked into the tree hollow sound asleep.

“Thanks.” He said softly, his accent thick with morning as he took a drink from the juice she had delivered. She tried not to shiver as she kept her eyes glued to the bird several yards away. She felt surprisingly over dressed in her dark jeans, cropped turtleneck and open teal flannel. She hopped he didn’t notice that her boots had a slight heel, she’d worn them because she hated how small she felt compared to him but seeing as he was so casual it felt far too put together. He let out a satisfied sort of noise that went right to the base of Jyn’s spine as he reclined in the chair. Finally Jyn felt the need to look at him, lowering the binoculars from her face to hand them back. “I take it Han let you in? Sorry if you were waiting long, I can’t hear the door from out here.”

“It was fine.” Jyn said with a shrug. She leaned her hip against the railing and looked at the way the ivy climbed up towards the roof. They were on the top floor, in the corner apartment. Pretty choice as far as she could tell. She wondered how the pair hand managed to swing it. Cassian basked in the sunlight for a few moments more before sighing and getting to his feet. Jyn noted glumly that even with the heels she was only coming up to his chin and followed him back into the apartment.

“Do you need anything?” He asked, stepping into the kitchen to refill his cup. Jyn mused at the choice of the word ‘need’ rather than ‘want’ and shook her head.

“No, I ate with my brother. But you should probably have something.” She leaned against the island and caught the way he hesitated while putting the juice back in the fridge. “Han mentioned it on his way out.”

Cassian huffed, closing the fridge and leaning back against it with his arms crossed over his chest. His broad chest, Jyn noted absently. “Han is more of a mother hen then my sister ever was, and she was proud enough to embroider the title on her apron.” He told her, reaching for his cup and a breakfast bar. Jyn just snorted, enjoying the way Cassian smiled at her and gestured at the dining table and chairs off to the side of the living room while he disappeared down the hall towards what Jyn assumed was his bedroom.

She settled in, toeing her boots off so she could sit cross-legged on the chair and started unpacking her notes. She debated pulling out her laptop when he reappeared, only his folders and notebooks in hand. She toyed with her pen as he got comfortable across from her and tried to relax. It was just an assignment. He was just a guy. But he was a strong looking, soft spoken guy who made Jyn want to melt every time he spoke, even if she did find everything he had to say frustrating and debatable. She gave him a small smile when he set a glass of water on the table for her, despite her previous insistence that she was fine.

He chewed on his breakfast bar and thumbed through his notes while Jyn stared at him through her eyelashes. In the back of her mind she knew she was attracted to him, but she just couldn’t reconcile that fact with the fact that he was so uninterested in her.  

“Do we want to assign reading to the class prior to our discussion, or do we want to introduce a concept at the start of class and save the discussion for the second half?” He asked after swallowing the rest of his breakfast. Jyn shrugged, taking a drink of water as she considered it.

“Well I think that depends on the question we’re going to ask them. And if we could even find articles to support it.” She opened her folder to the list of questions Professor Imwe had sent them. “We have to pick from the list and get his approval on it so we should do that first before anyone else gets the one we want.”

Cassian leaned over the table to look at her list, eyes jumping from the ones she had highlighted as her preferred choices. She refused to shift under his scrutiny, not wanting to think about what her choices could possibly be implying to him about her as a person. If he noticed the different colored highlighter and took their differences for a hierarchical significance. Finally, after a few moments of silence he leaned forward and touched a finger to one near the bottom, close to where Jyn’s wrist rested on the table.

“These ones are similar, I think.” He said softly. Jyn tore her gaze from the soft almost sad expression on his face to see what he was talking about. Her two top choices, highlighted in blue.

‘ _What actions in your life will have the longest reaching consequences? How long will those effects be felt_?’ and ‘ _How long will you be remembered after you die_?’ Jyn swallowed hard at the sight and tried not to think about her mother and her godfather and her estranged father whom she still held at arm’s distance even after their heartbreaking reunion.

“We could email them both to him and say if one is taken we’d like the other.” Jyn said, and Cassian nodded before he leaned back, retreating from her space and looking serious.  Jyn fumbled for her phone, breaking eye contact and hoping that she doesn’t keep fucking blushing. She has never been this awkward around a guy in her whole life, and if she didn’t get it together then Bodhi was never going to let her live it down.

“We’re a fun pair.” Cassian said softly as Jyn jabbed out an e-mail to Professor Imwe on her phone. She glanced up at him as he gazed absently at a spot on the table.

“What do you mean?” She asked. And he only responded by flipping his folder open and turning it so the contents faced her, the only two suggestions circled on the sheet in red pen were the same two she had highlighted in blue.

Jyn didn’t say anything, just swallowed hard and nodded. She wanted to ask him who he had lost, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She knew if someone had asked such a thing of her she’d be snappish and defensive. She took a drink of water, set her phone face down on the table to wait for a response, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind to defuse the situation.

“So what is your deal with birds?” She asked, the words tumbling out of her mouth with a speed that has Cassian’s eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. “I mean…I see you at the duck pond all the time and you were just out there…you know…” She trailed off awkwardly and she was sure she was red faced this time. “Bird watching…”

Cassian chuckled, and Jyn for a moment felt a spike of anger at being laughed at though it settled when he smiled at her again and the butterflies kicked up in her stomach. “I just like birds. I think they’re neat and free and relaxing.” He shifted in his seat, arms still crossed over his chest and Jyn realized he was uneasy despite his expression. “I find them to be therapeutic.”

Jyn’s gaze slipped over his dog tags again, slipped over his choice of philosophy questions, slipped over some of the premature aging in his face that added to his rugged appeal.

“I guess so, but I think seagulls are the devil.”

The genuine bark of surprised laughter from Cassian brings a smile to Jyn’s face and finally, finally the tension is broken. There is an ease to him as he adjusts in his seat, leaning his elbows on the table when he speaks to her. He whispers conspiratorially to her about how pigeons are worse despite them being the only two souls in the apartment and she laughs when he goes into a story about how he and Han were harassed by a nest of pigeons outside their window in their first dorm together. Jyn counters with the time she and Bodhi were chased from one end of the beach to the other by a flock of angry gulls one time while Saw was in the store getting sunscreen which has Cassian shaking. It feels good, she realizes, to talk to him. It stays feeling good, when Professor Imwe gives them the go ahead to use the first option they sent him and they start talking about what their best approach is for handling a group discussion.

They don’t talk about what the question means to them, though they dance around the fact that at some point they will have to. But for now, Jyn just enjoys getting Cassian to smile. It’s an hour or so later and she’s getting ready to leave, they have almost three weeks to work on this project, there is no sense in busting it all out in one go if they don’t have to, when she thinks to ask him about the party.

“Are you going tonight?” She asks, wrapping her laptop charger up into a semi-neat ball to jam back into her bag. She isn’t watching him, not directly as she cleans up, but she catches how he hesitates out of the corner of her eye. “You know, since you’re Han’s roommate and all.”

He snorts at her addition, clicking his tongue at his roommate’s name. “As much as I enjoy watching Han make a fool of himself, I don’t think I will.” He collected her cup and was depositing everything in the sink, his back to her while he rinsed everything off.

“How come?” She asked, tucking some of the hair that had managed to escape her bun back behind her ear. She came to stand beside him at the sink, leaning back against the counter to see his face. If her nearness affected him, it didn’t show besides the smile that ghosted over his lips.

“I don’t find it as relaxing as the birds, I usually don’t know anybody because the only person I actually know there is Han and you can’t just monopolize the host, and when you stand brooding in the corner you get all kinds of…colorful people hitting on you.”

Jyn snorted. She knew all about that. About the guys who saw the angry looking quiet girl as a challenge, muttering ‘the quiet ones are freaks’ into her ear like it was an actual attempt at seduction. Jyn wasn’t looking for romance, she’d had her share of flings, but there was something about the audacity of the things that came out of people’s mouths when they thought they were doing you the favor of offering you a charity fuck.

“Well you should come.” She said, trying to sound casual as she said it. “You can brood with me after my brother ditches me for Skywalker and Leia and Han conveniently go missing.” She didn’t look at him, didn’t even watch him out of the corner of her eye as she quickly crossed the room to grab her bag. This was a good point to make an escape, it wouldn’t do to linger after such a poorly veiled attempt to ask him out, even if it was in a casual sense. “But whatever, I’ll see you in class if I don’t see you later.” Jyn called out behind her when she slung her bag over her shoulder and speed walked to the door.

“Yeah, okay.” Cassian said, sounding amused from where he stood in the kitchen watching her go. Jyn threw him a wave and was gone.

* * *

“I can’t believe you asked him!” Leia hooted from the passenger seat of Han’s van, twisting around to look at Jyn with unrestrained glee. Jyn groaned, tilting her head back and ignoring how Bodhi shook with laughter beside her. She even heard Luke chuckle and if he hadn’t been the one driving the death trap that was the Falcon she would have kicked the back of his seat in retaliation. How Skywalker had even managed to get the thing started was a miracle, the general rumor around campus being that the car wouldn’t start for anyone other than Han and occasionally Chewie if Han proved too inebriated to sit behind the wheel.

“I’m not telling you guys anything ever again.” She said, staring at the peeling fabric on the roof.  Leia just clucked in response.

“I’m sure Jyn. But now the question is, how fast do you want us to disappear once he actually shows up?”

“You are the absolute worst.” She said viciously, fuming at them all. “I’m going to convince Chewie to kick you all out.”

“Oh come on Jyn, you have to actually enjoy the party.” Luke said, always the first to abandon the ‘tease Jyn’ train. “You can’t just play bouncer with Chewie all night.”

“Hey, there aren’t many chances to get into a good fight with people where the cops won’t get called anymore.” Jyn said, glad for the conversation shift. “I have to take my chance at dishing out ass whoopings where I can get them.”

“You could just join the MMA group.” Leia said, with the same tone she always used when talking about something that she knew more details on then she was admitting. “I know you don’t like things with meetings or structure or any semblance of organization, but considering the meetings means getting to take swings at each other you might actually enjoy it.”

“Please stop trying to mom friend me out of my apartment on the week days.” Jyn replied, “I am very happy being the scary one of the group and if I start interacting with more people they’ll start to think I’m nice or something.”

Leia rolled her eyes while Luke and Bodhi hooted again. The glitter over her eyes caught the street lights and made her look like some sort of space princess as the Falcon rolled to a stop in the parking lot. “Excuse me for trying to expand your horizons.”

The parking lot in question was actually attached to a warehouse, rather than a random empty lot that Han had broken into. It belonged to Lando, though why Lando owned a warehouse was beyond Jyn. Apparently the upper half was a converted loft that he lived in. But Lando didn’t need an entire warehouse worth of space to himself all the time so he was content to let Han use it for massive raggers. It was the kind of thing they could only get away with while they were young, and Han had a reputation to keep up with after all.

“I hang out with you, my horizons are already plenty expanded.” Jyn said, sliding out of the van and into the cool night air. She caught her best friend by the arm, leaning her head against Leia’s shoulder as they walked towards the building. It was already full of people, and the air inside was thick and warm compared to the outside world. Leia blindly reached over to pat Jyn’s head, mostly missing and bopping her gently on the face.

“There there, flattery will get you nowhere.” Leia teased as they breezed past Chewie towards the bar. The first few parties they had gone to the warehouse had been just a few card tables with kegs behind it. Now there was an actual built in counter and half of a liquor cabinet set up behind it. Jyn made an impressed noise as Lando leaned across the surface and pretended to take their order.

“How have the cops not shut you down yet?” She asked, taking the bottled beer he handed her gratefully. “Because lord knows you’re not carding.”

“First off, freshman, you should be thankful I’m not carding. Second off, once it gets past Five this whole district is pretty much dead except for the rent a cops that watch the other warehouses.” He said, grinning as he yelled over the music. “So there aren’t too many neighbors to complain about the nose.” He shrugs as he fiddles with a neon green bottle opener that had clearly been abandoned there from another party. “It’s one of the best parts about living in this part of the city.”

“A) as a British national I think your drinking laws are bullshit. And B) everything else you just said was some hipster nonsense.” Jyn teases, eyes trailing off to the lofted parts of the warehouse.

“Hipster nonsense indeed, but since we’re so secluded I’ve been able to set up a donation jar to supplement buying the kegs and people have actually been willing to put money in.”

“That’s all very clever actually.” Leia said, sipping her own beer. How anyone could make such a basic action look so dignified was beyond Jyn and yet Leia did it with ease. “Who came up with that?”

Lando grinned. “Not Han, if that’s what you’re asking.” Leia and Lando laughed and Jyn used that as the opportunity to slip away to see if she could locate Bodhi and Luke in the crowd.

They were hanging out with other members of the aviation club, Bodhi introducing them all while Luke looked mildly star struck. Jyn slowed her approach and debated actually joining in when she felt someone brush against her arm as they came to stand next to her. She tilted her head towards the person, beer pressed to her lips, and she nearly choked when she tried to say hello before the liquid had fully hit her stomach.

Cassian’s hand was warm and firm and thankfully not too forceful as he gave her back a few thumps, chuckling good naturedly as she flailed about. “Easy there it’s just me, no need to act like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

Jyn clutched her beer to her chest as her coughing subsided. As she straightened back up to her full height, Cassian’s hand slid down her back. It lingered there, not quite low enough to count as the small of her back but low enough to send a tingle across her skin. But then it was gone, and Jyn tracked it as Cassian awkwardly brought it up to run through his hair. She couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her mouth at the sight of him.

“You came!” She half shouted over the din of the music around them. Then her eyebrows pulled together the way they always do when she’s suspicious of someone. “Why?” She asked, half accusatory and half baffled. Cassian’s shoulder’s shook with laughter that didn’t quite carry before he leaned forward a bit, to be able to talk into her ear.

“I could always leave if you don’t think I should-“ He started, the teasing in his tone making his accent lilt in the most delightful way. Jyn lashed out gently with her fist, thumping him on the arm just hard enough to make him twitch as he started laughing again.

“I didn’t mean it like that! I just-“ She blew an exasperated gust of air out of her mouth, rustling her bangs in the process. She pretended not to notice the way Cassian tracked the movement of her hair as it brushed against her face and silently thanked Han and Lando for keeping the room low-lit. “I thought you said this wasn’t your scene.”

“It’s not.” He replied simply, hands finding their way into his pockets as he shrugged. The gesture seemed so careless, he looked so at ease. If Jyn hadn’t spent the better part of a year subtly watching him from the corner of her eye she would have thought he was right at home from his body language. Jyn didn’t feel like he was lying to her, but she got the feeling that Cassian Andor was a very good liar.

But then again, takes one to know one and all of that.

“But?” Jyn said, leaning forward  on her toes as she said it before rocking back onto her heels. She took another drink from her beer and once again reveled in the way Cassian quietly tracked the movement. It was strange, because usually anyone looking too hard or too closely at Jyn made her skin crawl. It would rile up her temper and she’d start running her mouth. But there was something about the way Cassian watched her, with his soft dark eyes, that just didn’t bother her.

“Would you like me to say it?” He asked, so softly that Jyn really shouldn’t have been able to hear it given that they were standing so close to the make shift dance floor. But Jyn realized that at some point they had shifted until they were standing toe to toe and she noted in the back of her head that usually this was how most of her fights started, but Cassian’s head was stooped just enough for him to whisper to her and he was looking at her intently like she was something to learn.

Jyn felt her heart hammering in her throat and she wondered why this felt so romantic. Never mind the fact that she had been frustrated and ‘pining’ as Luke had liked to put it, she had never at any point stopped to consider that maybe while she had been watching him he had been watching her.

 Her eyes drifted for a moment, seeking a pause to gather her thoughts. She spied Han and Leia standing halfway up the stairs to Lando’s loft, leaning on the railing watching the party. In the brief second that she bothered to look, Han somehow managed to catch her eye over the haze and he looked between her and Cassian and shot her the cheekiest fucking thumbs up she had ever seen in her fucking life. If she hadn’t been so aware of Cassian looking at her she would have rolled her eyes. Or flipped him off. As it was she just gripped her beer tighter in her hand and looked up into Cassian’s face.

“Please?” She asked, just as softly.

And Cassian dipped his head even closer, tilting his face so he could press his cheek against her’s as he whispered into her ear, “Because you asked, Jyn.”

The shudder that went straight through her at the sound of her own fucking name was one hundred percent shameful, but judging by the smirk she felt the side of Cassian’s mouth form against her cheek it was exactly the kind of response he had been hoping for. He looked extremely pleased as he rocked back onto his heels as he straightened up, looking down at her with a slightly darker look to his eyes.

“Can I buy you another drink?” He asked, eyes drifting down to the beer in her hand.

“They’re free.” She said, before she could stop herself. Cassian smiled and laughed and Jyn realized belatedly she had walked into that one.

“In that case, I’ll let you buy.”

She rolled her eyes, the moment suddenly less heady but still filled with a sense of promise as she turned on her heel and led him back towards Lando and the bar.

His hand alighted against the small of her back, just fingertips at first, and then the whole weight of his palm when she didn’t pull away or shrug him off.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just something that just sort of happened unexpectedly. I just thought up the first line and I couldn't let it go so I somehow made this. 
> 
> I kind of want to write more in this setting? But I don't know if anyone would find it interesting...who wants to see Jyn and Cassian have an intimate heart to heart about loss and death? I might do a second chapter or start a series or something with this set up.


End file.
